Are Christians being marginalised?

Radio 5 live's morning phone-in today was asking if Christianity is being marginalised in the UK. It focused largely on instances of Christmas cards or greetings being banned in various institutions for fear of offending other faiths.

Christianity no longer has any real power and authority in our society yet for many people nowadays it's something that others need protecting from rather than receiving protection itself. It's not that long ago that belonging to the church was the equivalent of belonging to the communist party behind the iron curtain, it was what you did to become part of the establishment. The collective memory of Christianity is that it fluctates between being oppressive and irrelevant, having in its time been used to justify slavery, homophobia and sexism.

For centuries the church has either turned a blind eye to or actively assisted injustice. It has had a privileged position in society and has expected respect without doing anything to earn it. Christianity may have lost its power over society but most people are not yet ready to think of us alongside other vulnerable minorities that need protection.

Maybe we need to become completely disassociated from the state. Despite most people's ignoring of the church bishops still sit in the house of Lords and the head of state (The Queen) is head of the Church of England. Its hard to argue that we are an oppressed and misunderstood minority when we have such symbolic power in the country still.

There's a lot that we have to do to change the perception of our faith in the UK. But I do think there are some grounds for complaint towards the media.

I wish that the media, in particular the BBC, would:


1 Make the distinction between what certain rent-a-quote spokespeople have to say on certain issues and what most Christians actually, believe say and do. The people who want to prosecute the BBC for blasphemy or who want legal protection to discriminate against homosexuals do not speak for me!

2 Invite Christians to speak on big issues such as asylum and immigration, poverty and global warming. These are the things that preoccupy large numbers of Christians but the impression you get from news media is that Christians spend their life in a state of outrage to do with sexuality and blasphemy. It's just not true!

3 Treat Christians and Christianity the same way that they treat any other person with deeply held beliefs - mock us, criticise us, laugh at us, but in the same way and to the same extent that you do this to others. If it's OK to laugh at someone's beliefs then it's OK regardless of which beliefs these are. If it's not OK to make fun of Muslims or Hindus or Jews or Buddhists then it's not OK to make fun of Christians.